The Untold Story of Lily Evans
by MPPMaraudergirl
Summary: Now there is no denying that Lily Evans grew to loathe James Potter over their stint at Hogwarts. But what is commonly left out of these slanderous stories about Lily, is exactly what happened to cause such a strong hatred to grow. This is the untold story of Lily Evans - beware James Potter fans: There will be no James Potter bias in this story.
1. Chapter 1

The Untold Story of Lily Evans

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything related belongs first, and foremost, to JK Rowling, and then to her partnerships with Bloomsbury, Scholastics, Warner Bros., etc.

Summary: This is the untold story of Lily Evans - beware James Potter fans: There will be no James Potter bias in this story.

Posted: 07/12/14

Author's Note: Hi everyone! I see in my stats that 180 or so people have me on author alert because at some point (over the last ten years!) I wrote something from which they got enjoyment, or perhaps tears. I'm not sure how many of these faithful readers ever venture into the world of fanfiction anymore (admittedly I only reread through some of my stuff over the last two days, but then felt a huge rush of inspiration so I'm giving this one a shot) but I thought of a little unorthodox story that hopefully some readers (new and perhaps old) will enjoy. Please let me know what you think!

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><p>There is a common untrue – emphasis on <em>untrue<em> – story circulating around about Lily Evans and her dislike of one James Potter. In these stories – and believe me, there are a _lot_ of them – James Potter is painted as this severely misunderstood, great looking, hugely intelligent Quidditch star, to whom Lily will not give the light of day. Now there is no denying that the last part is true: Lily Evans grew to loathe James Potter over their stint at Hogwarts. But what is commonly left out of these slanderous stories about Lily, is exactly what happened to cause such a strong hatred to grow.

Now I'm going to tell this untold story; but if you, reader, are a James can-do-no-wrong Potter fan girl (or guy) beware. There will be no James Potter bias in this story. For once.

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><p><span> The Untold Story of Lily Evans<span>

_July 31__st__, 1975 – The Day_

While many students across England viewed the end of July as a solemn event, for their summer holidays were beginning to dwindle, Lily Evans grew happier by the day. She was fifteen and going into her fifth year at Hogwarts, and the end of July meant she had reached the day her parents set aside every summer to take her to Diagon Alley. Though she had only been in the wizarding world for four years, she began to miss it terribly by this time in the summer, and a trip to Diagon Alley always seemed to satisfy her craving for magic.

So as the sun crept into the sky, so did Lily.

One wouldn't consider Lily Evans a loser. She was a quiet girl with two close friends and no enemies. She spent her days at Hogwarts working hard at her school work or being heavily involved with the Charms club, as the president. Those who knew her well knew she loved Hogsmeade weekends, and though her grades were immensely important to her, she still made time to lounge around with her friends and enjoy every Quidditch match played at Hogwarts while even trying to follow some of what the Chudley Cannons were up to. And, also, as a matter of fact, she was heavily smitten with one of the star Chasers on the Gryffindor team named James Potter.

They never spoke much. He had his close group of friends, and a few girls following behind them occasionally. But ever since Lily was partnered with him on a Transfiguration assignment in second year, she had a great fondness for him that had only grown. There was something about the way his eyes looked behind his wire-rimmed glasses, always full of mischief and cunning. Though not one for pranks herself, she always enjoyed hearing what he and his best friend Sirius Black had gotten up to. It was somehow endearing that he could pull off such interesting and original pranks while still maintaining his top spot in their class – well next to her, anyway.

As the years passed on, she admired him greatly from afar, her eyes finding their way to where he was seated in classes or dinner. Watching him play Quidditch was probably the thing that made her heart flutter the most. His passion and talent was irrevocably attractive. Though she often heard many of the girls, in her year or otherwise, go on about how handsome Sirius Black was, she only had eyes for James. She believed him to be the best looking bloke she had ever seen. Gratefully, however, her anonymity allowed her crush on James to go undetected. She had, of course, told her friends Marlene and Mary about her feelings, but they rarely spoke about it much, knowing it to be almost a fantasy more than anything else.

So when she ran into him at Diagon Alley later that day she was surprised to find him approaching her with his lopsided grin.

She was caring a load of parcels clumsily in her arms as she retreated out of Madame Malkin's. Though she was thrilled her parents finally let her venture into Diagon Alley without their supervision, she hadn't realized how much easier it was to shop with two extra sets of arms for carrying and holding things. As she stumbled along the cobbled roads, shifting the packages in her arms to grant her a better line of sight, her toe caught on an uneven stone outside of Quality Quidditch Supplies and the parcels fell to the ground. As she was not often the center of attention, or used to doing things to create such attention, her face went as red as her hair. And impossibly darker when she looked up from the ground to find James Potter standing over her.

Mortified and unable to speak coherently she muttered out a breath-like "uh" and turned her face to the ground.

"Hey there Evans," he said cheerfully, leaning down to help gather the boxes. Her heart fluttered at her name on his lips. "Looks like you could use an extra pair of arms. Or six."

"Oh. Uhm, yeah…er yes. Yes, thank you, James. I—I do, uh-huh." She let out a pitiful laugh as they rose from the ground in unison.

In silence he began to shift the boxes back onto her arms, and she avoided eye contact as if his eyes would burn her.

"Have much shopping left to do?" he finally said, conversationally, requiring her eyes to now meet his. "Because, if you'd like later on, I was going to stop and get some ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor and I would love for you to join me."

He smiled broadly at her and it took everything for her knees to not buckle.

"Me?" she said aloud before she could help it. He laughed in response, nodding his head. "Uh, yes. Okay, yes I would enjoy that as well. What… time?"

He threw a casual look at his watch. "How about four thirty? Are you still going to be around by then?"

It was only one o'clock and her parents were going to meet her at the Leaky Cauldron around two o'clock. She would have to find a reason to assure them that she would be fine staying an extra two and a half hours for a date – with James Potter.

"Sure," she agreed, alarmingly aware of big she was smiling. Composing herself, she reiterated, "Sure I will meet you there at four thirty." He smiled in return and turned to walk away when she gathered the courage needed to call to him: "Oh James!"

"Yes?" he replied casually looking over his right shoulder.

"Thank you."

"Oh anytime, Evans. I was glad to have run into you. What a lucky day."

She watched him retreat and it was only the weight of the parcels that kept her feet on the ground. She felt weightless and more smitten than ever before. A date with James Potter! What a glorious end to the month of July. Mary and Marlene would never believe her and she couldn't wait to tell them.

For the next hour she floated around the alley, finishing up her shopping in hopes that her parents would be so impressed with her pragmatism that they couldn't possibly say no to granting her a few more hours of excitement before she had to return to her boring muggle summer. The shock had still not worn off as she pushed her way back into the Leaky Cauldron and propped herself up at a table anxiously awaiting her parents.

They arrived punctually as always, having spent time in the muggle world shopping. They could tell their daughter was in a much better mood than when they had left her there, which was not unusual, but there was clearly more to it. When they sat down, she exploded into detail about her wonderful happenstance meeting with the boy of her dreams. Her father eyed her mother reproachfully as the explanation went on, but her mother looked much more agreeable.

"Please Mum, Dad!" Lily begged. "I won't want to stay too late… Just until five thirty would be alright wouldn't it?"

"But Lily, that's another two hours before he even wants to meet you," her father pointed out.

"I'll find something to do and stay out of trouble, I assure you," Lily bargained.

Finally after twenty minutes Lily had won her parents approval, and ten minutes after that she had helped them load her purchases into the car and was heading back into the Alley. Now she had just over an hour and a half to wait for her date and she began to panic. She hadn't looked in a mirror in hours, and was wearing what she now felt was a highly unattractive top and what if she didn't have anything to say?

But she needn't worry about any of those things, it turned out. Because when four thirty rolled around, as she sat outside Florean Fortescue's at a two-person table, James was nowhere to be found. Nor had he shown up at quarter to five, or five, or five after five or so on. James hadn't shown up at all. Finally at five twenty, embarrassed and defeated, she headed toward the Leaky Cauldron.

The hour date she did not spend talking with the most handsome boy she had ever seen, instead became the hour she vowed to never again be the timid, love-struck girl that James Potter stood up. She would be unashamedly hate-filled to James Potter for the rest of her life.


	2. Chapter 2

The Untold Story of Lily Evans

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter and everything related belongs first, and foremost, to JK Rowling, and then to her partnerships with Bloomsbury, Scholastics, Warner Bros., etc.

**Summary:** This is the untold story of Lily Evans - beware James Potter fans: There will be no James Potter bias in this story.

**Posted:** 07/15/14

**Author's Note:** Thanks to all who reviewed or followed the story. Your feedback is always appreciated. I'll hopefully also be coming up with some nice fluffy one-shots to help get us (both) through a story where James and Lily aren't together.

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><p>There are things in life that change us – for better or worse. Starting school, meeting new friends, suffering a loss. Some things in this world just <em>shatter<em> us. And for a love struck fifteen year old like Lily Evans, being led on by James Potter was one of them. Those older and wiser than Lily would disagree, perhaps – which is why she did not reveal anything to her parents other than the date went badly and her crush was over. Shocking as this 180 was to them, they let it go, believing that their daughter had done the same.

Lily wasn't the type of girl to shut down from experiences. Nor would she simply go out of control. Her aim was never to become so radically different that she could somehow get revenge. Potter – not _James_ - was no longer a fleeting thought – well, he wouldn't be, after she had had time to explain to Mary and Marlene what had happened. She allowed herself to sulk a little in the remaining month at home. But only a little, and only when she was alone. After the first week she began to feel surprisingly better. She wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because she never really had a relationship with Potter: there simply weren't enough happy thoughts of him plaguing her brain, no memories that haunted her. If anything, the memories she had of him were dismal.

Finally discarding her Potter-rose-colored glasses, she really thought about him. Were all those pranks he and Sirius Black pulled really in good fun, as she had previously assumed they were? And what about all that gloating he did about his Quidditch playing? She reckoned he was simply being funny; over-exaggerated and well-spirited. Now she wasn't so sure. If he was capable of doing something like this to _her_ – her, Lily, who had always been pleasant enough with him…

The summer days waned, and despite the event of The Day, Lily still found herself growing more and more excited for the upcoming school year. When September 1st rolled around, Lily, once again, rose with the sun.

Platform 9 and ¾ was packed, as usual, with trolleys full of trunks and bags, stacked with owls hooting excitedly in cages while pet cats rattled in their own baskets, desperate for freedom. Lily arrived early, as punctuality was an Evans' DNA trait, and scoured the platform looking for her two best friends. Although she had been made prefect this year, and thus had duties to perform through the train ride, she at least hoped to catch a glimpse of her friends before retreating to the prefect's compartment.

She wove in and out of recklessly moving third years, stopping to help a first year pick up their fallen trunk, then admitted defeated and boarded the train.

The prefect's compartment was near the front of the train. Though she had some idea who her male Gryffindor counterpart was, she was still excited to see him. Of all the Marauders, Remus Lupin was the one she had spoken with the most. He was kinder than the others; even when she had considered Potter kind, she still wouldn't rank him above Remus. When she arrived at the prefect's compartment, she gently opened the door, peered in, and, to her delight, saw him.

He looked tired and worn, and she hoped that was only from a fun summer holiday, but she knew he often had a tiredness to him. She didn't need to force a smile as she approached him.

"Hello, Remus!"

He looked up immediately from a Transfigurations' book he had been reading and smiled. "Hi, Lily. I should have known, I suppose."

"Well, it was either me or Marlene, I thought. Really a toss-up. But who else but you?" Her smile grew as his did.

It was nice that she could talk to Remus so casually. She didn't have a difficult time talking to most boys, but she usually didn't actively seek conversations with them. Though, what Lily Evans _usually_ did was perhaps going to change.

"Yeah," Remus half-heartedly agreed. She could tell he wouldn't say a word against the other Gryffindor Fifth years, but he didn't have to. She could also tell he was not informed of the events that had transpired on The Day. "Dumbledore must have a lot of faith in me."

At this point she sat next to him, as the compartment was filling up quickly and the Head Boy and Girl were ready to begin their start of term speech. The speech was rather cut and dry. They, the Head Boy a Ravenclaw named Caradoc Dearborn and Head Girl, Gryffindor, named Alicia Abbot, were no nonsense as they reeled off the list of expectations for prefects: all would patrol the train throughout the trip, fifth year prefects were elected to accompany first year students to their dormitories after the opening feast, and once they had their timetables set up, Caradoc and Alicia would arrange fortnightly meetings. Finally, they were reminded of their powers and perks: to dock points only from their own house, to give detentions to misbehaving students, to confiscated illegal items, and rights to the prefect bathroom on the fifth floor.

By the end of the meeting Lily's excitement for the school year was climbing. She threw a look over to Remus, and even he could not hide his pleasure at all the perks of becoming a prefect. They exited the compartment together and headed back toward where their friends commonly sat on the train, all the while making idle chit-chat.

"My summer holiday was a bit boring," Remus admitted. "When you've got friends like I have, if something's not getting blown up or dismantled, you begin to lose your nerve a bit."

Lily couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, I can imagine Potter and Black keep things interesting." Remus studied her for a moment, wondering if he could ever remember her calling them by their surnames – but then he couldn't really remember her calling them anything at all.

"We certainly do," came the voice of Sirius Black, as if cued. "Hello Remus – Evans. Our possibly perfect prefects, I see. I better keep in line this year."

Remus rolled his eyes in response. "No one would possibly buy that act, I'm afraid."

"Oh. Well, pity." His eyes were glowing mischievously and Lily knew he really didn't find it a pity at all.

Their walk down the train was impeded by an unusual amount of traffic. The train had begun moving in the middle of their meeting, and normally by then most students had found their friends and were settled, waiting for the sweets cart to roll by. They neared the Marauder's compartment and Lily's heart stopped as a messy head emerged.

"Sirius, there you are—and you've gone and found Remus as well!" His voice held approval. It once sounded so beautiful to her. "And Evans!" He looked at her. She felt her face flush but did not break eye contact with him. If looks could kill, and all that…

"Hmpf." She turned on her heels and continued down the corridor, as if he didn't say her name. "See you later, Remus."

"Oy, Evans!" James called back.

She turned to look over her shoulder only long enough to say, "Bugger off you prat."

She didn't think she said it particularly loud but the crowd around her all stopped to look. Was that Lily Evans calling James Potter a prat? The few people who continued talking were shushed unceremoniously by their friends, who were looking between James and Lily with interest. In Lily's wake, James' brow furrowed in confusion. Remus didn't look too sure what had happened either, and Sirius' jaw dropped.

"Did. That. Just. Happen." He broke the words apart either for emphasis or in shock.

Now, one wouldn't call James Potter stupid. He was near the top of their year in nearly every class he took and he hardly had to study. Though weak in Potions, he more than made up for it with skills in Transfiguration and Defense. And of course, unbeknownst to anyone outside their little group, he was currently learning to become an animagus and he'd like to see the average Hufflepuff pull that one off.

He also wasn't particularly bad with girls. He had his share of girlfriend's over the years, which was not to say many because he wasn't the type to settle down – and he was only fifteen after all. But he could read the signs and understood when a girl was smitten with him. And last time he checked Lily Evans _was_ smitten with him. But it appeared he needed to recheck.

"Shut up, Sirius," he retorted angrily, slinking back into the compartment. The others followed and he went to shut the compartment door before yelling out to the spectators, "Show's over, you twits!"

"What was that all about?" Peter inquired as James sat back down beside him.

"Nothing," he muttered, returning to the Quidditch magazine he had previously been reading.

"Evans told him to bugger off, then called him a prat," Sirius explained, apparently still slightly amused by it.

"Evans? Lily Evans?" Peter clarified, and Sirius nodded. "The quiet redhead who use to hang around with Snape when we were first years—" ("The very same.") "—who doesn't even talk to James at all?"

"Come to think of it, I suppose not." Sirius said, in mock thoughtfulness. "We never really took much interest in her, did we James? Not to say she's a harpie or anything. Cute enough, if you like that red haired thing, and those freckly noses. But not overly interesting is she?"

"You are being a prat, Sirius," Remus cut in. James remained silent, though his eyes were unfocused on the magazine article he was reading. "Lily is kind and smart. I've partnered with her on multiple occasions in class, and she is my fellow fifth year prefect. You'd know she's fairly interesting if you'd taken the time to actually talk to her."

Sirius waved his hand at him. "Not interested." Remus looked around at him, and even Peter cocked an eyebrow at this. James' eyes had not moved. "Don't look at me like that, Remus. I'm not trying to be a total berk here. We're busy with school and Quidditch, and, to quote my friend here, your furry little problem." He nodded his head toward James as he spoke. "I'm sure she's a lovely girl."

At these words Remus pulled his transfiguration text book out and started reading again, clearly finished with his friend's commentary.

"So what did you do?" Peter asked, turning the group's focus back on James.

"What?"

"You must've done something to warrant that from a girl like Lily Evans…that is to say, one of the quietest girls at Hogwarts. Comparatively speaking, of course."

"I honestly do not know what you're talking about, Pete." His voice was smooth, but slightly cool. "Barking mad, that one is."

Remus shook his head at his book. Sirius and Peter were both unsatisfied with James' lie, but commented no further and began a game of exploding snap.

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><p>Lily, more satisfied than she had been for weeks, continued down the corridor until she found her own friends. Marlene McKinnon and Mary Macdonald were her fellow Gryffindor fifth years, and two closest friends. Their friendship wasn't immediate upon arriving at Hogwarts. Lily was actually friends with a Slytherin boy her age named Severus Snape, but time and different houses separated them, and though Lily rarely contemplated it then, so did their beliefs. Thus, as the years passed Lily began to spend more time with students in her own house, and had found cordial relationships with most, and two earnest friendships with Marlene and Mary.<p>

Lily believed her friends – both brunette – to be beautiful girls. Not plain like her, anyway. Marlene had a kind face, framed by straight brown hair, and a love for sweets unparalleled. She also had an older brother John who was also in Gryffindor but a sixth year. Mary also donned brown hair, though a bit unkempt compared to her friend, and an often had a mischievous look to her. Although never unkind to Lily, she did have the tendency to be a little more vocal than her other two friends at times, which Lily appreciated.

They greeted her warmly, as always, upon her entrance and her satisfied smile became one of pure joy.

"Hello," she greeted back, sitting down next to Marlene.

"How was your summer, Lil?" Mary asked. "We were just discussing how pitiful ours were, and hoping you had a bit more excitement in yours."

"Not much," Lily admitted. "Don't really hang out with Sev much as you know… and everyone else around are muggles. Petunia got a boyfriend though."

Their reactions did not disappoint.

"Gross," was all Marlene felt inclined to say, but her expression said much more. They had briefly met Petunia during the summer after their third year when Lily's parents had invited them to stay over for a week. They liked Petunia about as much as she liked them.

"What's _that_ like? The most boring bloke in Britain, I assume," Mary mused, stifling a little giggle.

"And you would be right." Lily looked between the two of them who were still smiling, perhaps picturing him in their head. Despite this joyful atmosphere, she still felt the weight of what had happened on The Day and exhaled. "Something else did happen, that I want to tell you about… But you mustn't breathe a word of it to anyone okay?"

Mary and Marlene's smiles subsided, and Lily imagined they were wondering why they would need to promise to not tell anyone anything about their friend. What happened in Lily's life was not necessarily newsworthy around the halls of Hogwarts. Still, they consented easily, sitting up a little straighter to hear what their friend had to say.

"Over the summer, something did happen… At Diagon Alley, I ran into Potter."

"Potter? You mean James?" interrupted Marlene, causing her to get a look from Mary.

"Yeah, of course I mean James Potter. Well mum and dad let me go alone this summer, so I was struggling a little with all the supplies I had purchased, and he helped me when I dropped a few of them. Appeared out of nowhere really… and then…. Then…. Then he asked me if I'd like to meet him for ice cream later on."

"_A date_?"

"You had _a date_ with _James Potter_ and-you-did-not-owl-us-immediately?!"

This was worse than Lily imagined. Of course at first it stung, but gradually over the last few weeks of summer it grew better. Certainly it didn't feel as bad then as it was right now, with both of her friends jumping excitedly in their seats for her to continue.

"Well, yes…he invited me to have ice cream at four thirty. So naturally I begged my parents to let me stay the extra few hours and meet back up with him. And…"

"And?"

"_And_?"

"And… he never showed."

Silence. Well a gasp – from Marlene – and then silence. Mary's eyes had narrowed at nothing in particular.

"So that's why I didn't owl about it," she finished, pathetically.

"That is _awful_, even for a fifteen year old guy," Marlene said after a little while. Mary nodded furtively.

Mary cleared her throat. "So what you are saying is, that _berk_ asked you out to make you stay around for an extra few hours _and then didn't even show_?"

"Look," Lily began, "I've gotten over it, really… well _him_ anyway. Before this summer I really admired that bloke, I know, but a thing like this changes things. Needless to say I am done with that prat."

"So you aren't going to _do_ anything about it?" inquired Mary, raising an eyebrow. The others looked at her. "Oh you know, curse him? Or embarrass _him_ in front of some friends or—I don't know the whole school maybe?"

"I hadn't thought about it," Lily admitted. "I just don't want to be the apparently pathetic girl who gets stood up anymore."

It was the honest truth, though it felt a little silly to say. Mary, though sympathetic toward her friend, was definitely considering ways of retaliation; but Lily meant what she said – she was just done with it. With him.

"I just wanted you girls to know so when I'm around him, you… won't be surprised if I'm a little sharp with him, for, I don't know, the rest of our lives?"

This softened even Mary's face, who couldn't help but join in with her friend's laughter. They were interrupted by the trolley witch, and proceeded to drop the subject. The rest of the train ride was spent with chatter far away from James Potter or any of his friends. Though Lily knew she would not be able to avoid the temptation of revenge as the school year went on, at least for now, she had made some peace knowing that with her friends by her side she would have the strength to meet Potter confidently. And who knows, maybe even get under his skin a little.

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><p>Back in the Marauders' compartment, conversation was wearing thin: they had already discussed Quidditch summer news, different pranks they were excited to try, and even the impending exams – O.W.L's that awaited them at the end of the year. The conversation began to turn to girls, and as James feared, the events from earlier in the day.<p>

"Most of the girls here aren't even that good looking," Sirius said offhandedly to the group. "Wouldn't you agree James?" he added rhetorically, causing James to look up and see his smirk. "Of course, that Evans bird—"

James cut in, "Look, I've been thinking, mates – we really need to get focused this year."

"We have already discussed OWL's—" began Peter, a hint of agitation in his voice.

"No, not that. With our an—with the furry little problem solution," James always erred on the side of caution when discussing Remus' monthly issue. "We are going to accomplish it soon, I know it. We were so close at the end of last year." He looked around, as if daring anyone to disagree and was pleased to see Sirius and Peter nodding vigorously at him. "Right, Moony?"

Sirius and Peter turned to Remus at this point.

"Moony?" Remus looked up from his text book. "What a—"

"Brilliant nickname, I know. Could you think of anything more perfect?"

"A thousand other names," Remus muttered darkly.

"Love it," Sirius interjected, briskly. "Though I don't see why ol' Remus here should be the only one who gets a cool name."

"Agreed," nodded James. "I was figuring we could go based on our…our other forms."

Though they hadn't been able to fully change into their animagus forms for a duration longer than thirty seconds, it had been enough time for them to see what their forms actually were. Of course, Sirius became the burly, lovable man's best friend, a dog, and James' form was as strong and bold as he, a stag; however, they were still trying to work out how Peter had managed a rat ("Must be the nose," Sirius commented). After some time though, they could see the usefulness in all of their forms, and just like the dynamic of their group, their animal forms complemented each other nicely.

"But why?" Remus wondered, clearly not keen on Moony yet.

"Because we need code names for the map," James answered simply, as if it were obvious. "Which is another thing we are being quite lazy about, isn't it?"

Even Remus did not disagree. The idea of the map had come to them in third year, after they had been caught sneaking around. It was really Sirius' flippant wish for "a sign when enemies were approaching" that spurred the idea for not only a map of the school, but one which indicated who was where. They had compiled most of the map already, but it seemed as though they had begun dragging their feet nearing the end of their task.

"Agreed," Sirius said, genuinely. "So what about these nicknames then. Mister Moony, your thoughts?"

"Me?"

"Sure," Sirius nodded encouragingly. "James picked yours, so it's only fair you get to pick his, right?"

An unusual smile appeared on Remus' face. The smile that showed why exactly someone, who seemed too straight-laced and considerate, would run around with such trouble makers.

"Definitely," he said, staring James down. James smirked in response.

"Okay, Moony, whatcha got?" he challenged.

There was a long silence until finally something made Remus chuckle to himself. "I've got it. How about Prongs?"

"Prongs?" James reiterated.

"Sure, why not? Remember how pitiful your antlers looked after your first transformation? About as threatening as the prongs my dad uses to tend to the coals in our fireplace."

James cocked his eyebrow apprehensively as the other two chortled.

"Oh lighten up," Remus said, his tone softening. "I'm only messing with you, James. Prongs are almost another way of saying antlers… Though yours _were_ pretty pathetic, you have to admit."

James waved his comment away, as if the words were literally hanging in the air before him.

"I second Moony's suggestion. Prongs it is," Sirius declared. James' face remained unreadable: he didn't _hate_ the nickname, but he needed some more time for it to grow on him.

"Fine, good… All right then, how about Sirius?" James said, turning the subject away from him – something he didn't commonly do.

"Well going off our running motif," Peter began, receiving looks of interest from the others, "how about Padfoot? You know, on account of the underside of your paws?"

Remus nodded, then added, "Plus you are a black dog, and you know that's sort of what a padfoot is. Well, a ghostly one anyway."

Sirius nodded his approval, impressed by his own good fortune in naming. "All right then, Pete…you're a clear Wormtail if I've ever seen one."

"Excuse me?" Peter could barely be heard over the laughter of his friends.

Sirius ignored Peter's indignation about his name, and reached up to pull the piece of parchment – the map – from James' accessible trunk. He then cleared his throat, holding the paper before him.

"Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs," he began, nodding to each as he said their name, "Purveryors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present: The Marauder's Map."

The rest couldn't help but cheer at his proclamation. "That was good, write that down," James—Prongs commanded.

Sirius did a curt bow as he returned to his seat and began scribbling that on the top of the parchment. The train continued to pass along the countryside, and the sun was growing fainter in the distance. It was time for them to change into their robes and prepare for their arrival to their second home. It all seemed settled, and James was grateful. They would spend their fifth year focused on becoming full animagus, finishing the remaining spell-work needed for the Marauder's Map, and to a lesser degree, for James anyway, studying enough to not completely fail his OWL exams.

And anything to do with that Lily Evans bird was _not_ a part of his plans. Or so he thought.


End file.
